An Airbus 320 of the low-cost air carrier IndiGo, with around 163 passengers on board, made an emergency landing at IGI Airport here after a mid-air hijack scare when a “couple” of unruly passengers threatened to “hijack” the airplane.
All the passengers and the six-member crew of Flight 6E 334, which was on way from Goa to Delhi, were safe and the situation is under control, airport officials said tonight.
Civil Aviation Secretary M Madhavan Namibar told reporters that passengers who threatened were being questioned by the authorities amid reports that one of them may be in an inebriated condition. The identity of the passengers was not immediately known.
Unconfirmed reports said three passengers were being questioned while IndiGo CEO Aditya Ghosh said more than one passenger created a ruckus. As the over two-hour drama unfolded after the airplane pilot reported to the Air Traffic Control (ATC) here that a “couple” of passengers were behaving aggressively and made a hijack threat, emergency drill was in place and the aircraft was taken to an isolated bay at the airport. The threat was made about 15 minutes before the aircraft was due to land.
National Security Guards (NSG) commandos and Central Industrial Security Force personnel quickly surrounded the aircraft and the passengers were allowed to disembark three hours after the plane made an emergency landing at 5.29 pm.
“Following receipt of the information through the ATC from the pilot of the IndiGo Flt No 334 at about 5.15 pm that there were couple of passsengers behaving aggressively who also said that they would hijack the plane, all precautionary measures were activated as per the prescribed drill,” Nambiar said.
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Aircraft operations were suspended for one hour and several aicraft, which had landed, delayed the disembarking process. Some incoming flights were also asked by the ATC to hover over the Delhi airspace for some time.
When asked about the fate of the unruly passengers, Nambiar said that they are being questioned.
Aviation sources said the pilot reported a scene inside the aircraft while flying over Jaipur, about 15 minutes before the airplane was to land in Delhi. The NSG also thoroughly screened the baggage of the passengers before they were released.